We welcome Dr. John Blanton Jr. as the new Head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at Mississippi State. Dr. Blanton will join MSU on December 1. Dr. Blanton brings 20 years of academic and industry experience to MSU. He most recently served as research program manager for the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma. From 1999 until 2006, he held faculty and administrative positions at Texas Tech University and was the founder of the university's International Center for Food Industry Excellence.Dr. Blanton earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at New Mexico State University and his Ph.D. from Purdue University.

BCIA Bull & Heifer Sale

The Fall BCIA Bull & Heifer Sale will be held Thursday, November 8 at the Hinds Sale Facility in Raymond.Distance video biding sites will be in Verona and Batesville. Sale Catalog

Registration for the 4-H/FFA Replacement Beef Heifer Development Contest has been extended through this week. It is a 10-month contest that will conclude in August of 2013.Youth must be 14 years old as of December 31, 2011, to be eligible to compete. Contest details

MAFES Production Sale The 30th Annual MAFES Production Sale will be held Thursday, November 15, at the Mississippi Horse Park, near Starkville.The horse sale begins at 10:30 with lunch at noon and cattle lots selling at 1:00 p.m.Interactive bidding sites will be available in Hattiesburg and Raymond.

MBCIA Newsletter

The November 2012 issue of the Mississippi Beef Cattle Improvement Association newsletter is available online.

Forage Conference & Field Day

The 2012 Mississippi Forage and Grassland Conference will be held at the McKenzie Arena in Raymond, November 30 and the Brown Loam Field Day will be held on November 29 from 1-4 p.m. at the Brown Loam Experiment Station.

The Conference promises to be the best yet, with experts from seven states speaking on important forage related topics. The conference agenda, information about speakers, and the conference pre-registration form can be found at the MSUCares Forage Website. Preregistration is required before November 26. Space is limited; early registration is encouraged.

Alabama Farmers Tour

A large group of producers from Alabama Farmers Federation stopped by Martin Farms in Rankin County for a tour and ribeye steak sandwiches prepared by Brandon FFA.

Cattle:Fed cattle prices leveled off and even slipped in some locations. Limited movement across the region was seen as the week closed out. Early week trade showed prices in the Southern Plains at $127/cwt in Texas and $126/cwt in Kansas for live cattle. In Nebraska, live and dressed cattle traded at $125-$127/cwt and $195-$197/cwt, respectively, on Thursday. Feeder steers were steady and feeder heifers were $1-$4/cwt higher in Mississippi auctions this week, while slaughter cows were $1-$4/cwt lower and bulls were $1-$3/cwt lower.

Futures:

Live cattle futures prices were mixed as the new front month, December, contract increased 17 cents per hundredweight while the remaining contracts through August 2013 were marginally down. A break in boxed beef prices on Wednesday coincided with a drop in futures prices. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 171,000 [non-farm] jobs were added in October (August and September numbers were also revised upwards to 192,000 and 148,000, respectively). Analysts were expecting the number of jobs added to be 125,000 which brought about good news. On the other hand, despite the increase in jobs the unemployment rate increased from 7.8% last month to 7.9% in October. The jobs news, released early Friday morning, pressured cattle futures as it is seen as a potential drag on beef demand.Corn futures were mostly steady this week. Prices rose on Wednesday as South American weather concerns were being reported. Weak export sales led to a reversal on Thursday and the muddled jobs report added to the pressure to end the week.

Beef:

Wholesale boxed beef prices were lower. Prices slipped about $4/cwt on Wednesday for Choice. Choice finished with a weekly average of $195.34/cwt, down $3.15. Select beef averaged $177.09/cwt for the week, down $5.12.